Democrats sue Russia, WikiLeaks for alleged Trump poll conspiracy

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Friday filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the United States President Donald Trump campaign, the Russian government, and the WikiLeaks organisation, alleging a conspiracy to disrupt the 2016 United States presidential election.

"During the 2016 presidential campaign, Russia launched an all-out assault on our democracy, and it found a willing and active partner in Donald Trump's campaign," The Washington Post quoted DNC Chairman Tom Perez as saying.

The complaint, which is filed in a federal district court in Manhattan, alleged that top Trump campaign officials had conspired with the Russian government and its military spy agency to hurt the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

According to the DNC, the Russian government helped President Trump by hacking the computer networks of the Democratic Party and disseminating the stolen material that they found.

"This constituted an act of unprecedented treachery: the campaign of a nominee for President of the United States in league with a hostile foreign power to bolster its own chance to win the presidency," Perez added.

Senate investigators and prosecutors for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III are still investigating whether Trump associates coordinated with the Russian government.

The House Intelligence Committee Republicans had earlier said that they found no evidence that President Trump and his affiliates colluded with the Kremlin government.

However, this conclusion has been rejected by the panel's Democrats.

Meanwhile, suing a foreign country might also present legal challenges for the Democrats, as most nations have immunity from the United States lawsuits.

However, the DNC's complaint argued that Russia was not entitled to protection because their hack involved a trespass on the party's private property.

President Trump, on the other hand, has repeatedly rejected any collusion in his presidential campaign.